


Icy Waters and Frozen Hearts

by almosthuman_butnotquite



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gay viking chief, Gen, M/M, Vikings, gay vikings, will add more tags as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-10 17:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4401146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almosthuman_butnotquite/pseuds/almosthuman_butnotquite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeah, I don't really like this, but I suppose it's not that bad. I'll try working on a second chapter soon, but the next couple of days is gonna be busy for me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Once, long ago, there lived a tribe of people on a small island called Hildrborg. Here ruled the fair yet ferocious young Chief Asmund the Glorious. He was as attractive a Viking as there's ever been, with copper hair and freckles galore. He had yet to take a wife or beget offspring, and was suffering from personal issues with his own psyche.

Asmund had been having some terribly conflicting feelings for his fellow Viking warrior Orion, and that was strictly forbidden. Orion, of course, was completely oblivious, but of course he would be flattered (if he were a woman). Since he was not a woman, he would simply turn Asmund down (or ridicule him and push him into exile with the rest of the village).

Asmund was overreacting. He would not be exiled. It was fairly common that the men of their village would lie with the other men, but it was never love. It was just release, and the village's scarcity of women didn't help.

But Asmund was _in love_ with attractive, courageous Orion. Orion, whose hair was so golden it was white with eyes bluer than the sky. Orion, who had proven himself time and again that he was reliable and more than worthy of both Asmund's love and the position of his right hand in village affairs and battle.

Asmund's best friend Vashti knew of Asmund's predicament. She suggested Asmund showed Orion, or at least told him, how he felt. Even if Orion punched him in the face or hit him with the bottom of his axe, it would take some of the burden off of Asmund's shoulders.

Asmund was being a coward, very un-Viking like. He should just swallow his fears and pride and tell Orion how he felt. Even if Orion were to lie with him, if only for a night, he would be satisfied. And Orion would most likely not turn him down — he _was_ the Chief, after all.

He would just tell him, preferably when they were alone.

The opportunity came to him one dark and stormy night. While others were in their houses keeping their young children calm or sharpening their weapons, Asmund was in the Great Hall, pacing the floor as he tried to solve the food shortage issue. He was alone in the warm Hall with a fire roaring in the fireplace when the great oak doors opened with a clang of the iron hinges.

Orion stood there, dripping with rain water as bright blue lightning illuminated his face. He grinned at Asmund and entered the Hall, closing the doors behind him. "Fierce storm out there," he said, setting his axe and helmet on one of the tables.

"When are our storms ever calm?" he chuckled.

Orion chuckled. "I s'pose you're right." He stood in front of the fire to dry off. "What are you doing in here?"

"House is too cold," he muttered, avoiding Orion's gaze. "What about you? Shouldn't you be home resting? You have to lead a hunt tomorrow."

Orion rolled his eyes. "I don't sleep much, not since Dagwood disappeared."

Asmund had put Dagwood as far from his mind as he could in recent months. He hated how pained Orion was when his brother had disappeared at sea. Orion seemed to be doing much better this last month, and he even smiled once in a great while.

No one in the village believed that Dagwood was dead. They thought that he was merely lost at sea or stranded on an island. The wreckage of his ship had washed ashore at Fire Cove, but there were no signs of Dagwood. He would not just abandon his wife Naamah and infant daughter Nadezhda. They were too important to him, and he was a fighter.

"We'll find him," Asmund reassured, but it sounded hollow to even his own ears. They had searched tirelessly to no avail, but Dagwood proved harder to find than they thought.

"About that," Orion said slowly as his brow furrowed. "I was hoping you would let me lead a search for him, or even lead it yourself. I know we can find him, but we can't give up."

"Orion, I would love to help anyway that I can, but you know that we can't just send men out. Winter is approaching and we need to find enough food to feed the village."

"That's why we need to find him," he said desperately. "He can't freeze out there. He's my brother, I need to find him. You would want the same if your sister had disappeared."

Asmund sighed and scrubbed a hand over his scruffy face. He was right; if Priya disappeared, he would send out as many search parties as possible. "As soon as you get back from this next hunt, we will go search for him. But you need to get back in one piece. When we find him, I don't want to have to explain to him why you're lying at the bottom of the sea while he's back here."

Orion's brilliant grin broke out on his face again. "You're a great friend, Asmund." Asmund forced a smile, and Orion must have noticed, because his grin faltered. "What is it?"

Asmund shook his head. _What was he doing? This was his chance!_ "It's nothing. Just the burden of being Chief gets to you sometimes. You can't solve all of your people's struggles."

Orion nodded and glanced around the Great Hall. "You try your hardest, I know you do." He moved away from the fireplace to sit at the table closest to it. "But I can tell when you're lying. We have been friends long enough."

Asmund sighed and flopped onto the bench across the table from Orion. "Do you want to know why I haven't taken a wife?"

Orion arched a brow. "Does it actually have anything to do with what's troubling you?"

"It's exactly what's troubling me," he said, going very serious. "In fact, you're what's troubling me." Orion looked puzzled, but Asmund ploughed ahead anyways. "You know how Dagwood and Naamah are in love?"

"Yes," he said slowly, warily, his heart beating hard in his chest. What was Asmund on about?

"Well, I think I might have fallen in love with you the way he loves her." He sighed and ran his hands over his face. "It doesn't even make any sense, but I am stupidly in love with you, Orion." He finally looked at his friend and the man looked dumbstruck.

Orion had no idea what to say. Asmund was a good friend, and no doubt was being honest with him, but how did he feel about the man? He hadn't ever looked at another in the village the way Asmund apparently looked at him. What was he supposed to do?

He stood abruptly. The room swam and his stomach churned. "Asmund, I can't —"

"I never expected anything back," Asmund said soothingly as he too stood. "If anything, I would like to continue our friendship. I would never act on these feelings unless you said it was okay. It doesn't matter if I'm the damned Chief."

Orion said nothing, only collected his axe and helmet on his way out of the Hall. Asmund pushed a hand through his hair as the doors slammed shut. What had he done?

×

It was two months since Asmund and Orion had spoken last. Asmund had given up hope long ago of salvaging any form of their friendship and instead had thrown himself into his duties as Chief. Vashti helped him where Orion normally did, but Asmund said nothing about his friend's absence.

Vashti stopped him one morning outside the Arena. "Asmund, where is Orion? I haven't seen him in _days_. It's like he's vanished."

"Good riddance," Asmund said. "Perhaps now I could focus on my duties."

"How could you say that?" Vashti asked in horror.

"He doesn't want to speak with me," Asmund said firmly, and he turned away.

"Oh mighty Odin, you didn't," she said, a hand over her mouth. "You did not tell him."

"Aye," he confirmed, tense as her footsteps approached him. He refused to look at her.

"Odin save us," she swore softly. "Asmund, how could you?"

"You are the one who always told me to," he growled, and she blinked at him as he whirled on her. "You told me to, and I did. Great Thor, what do you want from me, woman?"

Vashti rolled her brown eyes toward the heavens. "Gods above, must you act like such a child? You are nearly thirty, act as such. You and Orion both need to grow up."

"I don't need to hear this," he said, stalking off toward the Hall. "I need to meet with the Elders."

Vashti watched him walk away with her hands on her hips. She clucked her tongue at his back. "What am I to do?" An idea struck her and she rushed off to find Orion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I don't really like this, but I suppose it's not that bad. I'll try working on a second chapter soon, but the next couple of days is gonna be busy for me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dagwood wakes up, the search parties turn up nothing, and nature tries to keep Asmund from finding Orion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, wow. I have been gone for such a long time. I've been busy with school and looking at colleges and trying to keep my grades up and whatnot. I will try to be more regular with this one, if not with any of my others.

The Elders were consulting with one another on the proposed plan to search for Dagwood the Devious when Asmund entered the Great Hall. They looked up at his arrival, and Asmund was relieved to see his younger sister Priya among them. She was the one in charge of training the younger Vikings how to fight and behave like a true Viking.

"Ah, Asmund," said Kael, an old man with a bit of a limp from fighting a dragon many years ago.

"I apologize for my lateness. I was taking care of another matter."

"It's alright," Kael said with a nod just before he returned to the map spread out on the table.

"Where's Orion?" Priya asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," Asmund said stiffly.

"You're tense, big brother. Something happened."

Asmund rolled his eyes. "Always perceptive."

"Asmund," said Nadim, a man not too much older than Asmund was.

Asmund stepped up to the middle of the group and looked at the map. "We know where Dagwood was lost, don't we?"

"Here," Nadim said as he pointed to a spot just off of King's Head Cove.

"Then we should send out a scouting ship. They should be able to spot some wreckage. Nikita said their ship went down in a storm?"

"Aye."

"Then the scouts can get there without incident," he said. "If they find Dagwood --"

But Asmund wouldn't get to finish his sentence. The doors of the Great Hall burst open with the clang of a dozen shields hitting steel cages. A man rushed inside, bowing low in front of Asmund and the other Elders.

"Wreckage washed ashore," he panted. "Dagwood has been found."  
××  
Dagwood did not wake for eight days. Orion was still missing. The village murmured constantly about the strange events happening. Asmund silenced them with looks of disapproval and the village healer Oksana stuck by his side.

Finally, after a week, Dagwood's eyes opened. He saw Asmund sitting beside his bed with his head in his hands. He pushed himself onto his elbows and swallowed. He tried to speak, but his voice came out raspy and hoarse.

"Chief," he said, and Asmund looked up.

"By Odin's beard, you're awake." He stood up. "Do you feel alright?"

"I feel woozy and I'm starving. I could also do with some water." He looked around. "Where is my brother?"

"We haven't found him," he said as he handed Dagwood a mug of water. "Vashti is in charge of the search party."

"How long has he been missing?"

"Nigh on six weeks." He disappeared for a moment and returned with a plate of fried mackerel. "Eat. We will discuss this after."

"Something is wrong, Asmund," he said around a mouthful of mackerel. "My brother is nowhere to be found, I washed ashore here, and the dragons at the Wild Cliffs are growing restless."

"You've seen the Cliffs recently?" Asmund asked as he returned to his seat.

"Aye, and the dragons there are vicious and cunning. I believe that one of them saw our ship and followed us to the Cove, where it sunk us. It killed my whole crew."

"Not your whole crew. Nikita and three others survived the wreck and returned home to help us try to find you."

"Gods bless their souls," Dagwood said softly. "I need to know if my brother was alright before he left."

"He was … distressed," he said slowly. "Something had been troubling him."

"Does anyone know what it was?"

Asmund stood up abruptly and turned away to gaze out of the window. "No. He refused to speak with anyone in the three days before he vanished."

Dagwood frowned. "I get the feeling that there is something you aren't telling me about this."

"It's nothing," Asmund muttered. He observed Vashti's search party returning without Orion once again. "He thought we had all given up hope of finding you. I suppose he went to look for you, alone."

"He was always a fool," Dagwood said.

Asmund turned toward Dagwood. "Finish your food, and get some rest. I have some things to tend to." Asmund met with Vashti outside by the Great Hall. "No luck?"

"No, not even a clue. We had to head back. There's a storm brewing, we need to get everyone inside their homes," said Vashti.

"Very well. Tell Nadim to blow the storm horn. We need to hunker down if it's as bad as it looks." He eyed the horizon. "May the gods watch over Orion and keep him safe."

Vashti squeezed his arm before hurrying off to do what he asked of her. Asmund watched the gathering clouds with narrowed eyes. If nature wanted to challenge his strength and beliefs, so be it. He would find Orion if it was the last thing he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it was so short! I will be working on another one and I hope to post it soon.


End file.
